


Empathic Pain

by misswildfire



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Bay Movies), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Empath, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:01:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23264377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misswildfire/pseuds/misswildfire
Summary: For as long as Mikey had known, he had been different. He wasn’t just talking about the fact that he was a mutated turtle, or that he knew ninjutsu or that he lived in the sewers below New York City. No, this marked him different from his brothers. Don had once referred to him being an empath, or having the ability to sense other people’s emotions or mental state. He didn’t need to be in the same room to see his brothers body language to know how they were feeling. Touch made the emotions he felt from someone stronger.Getting pinned down and beaten by a group of Purple Dragons has disastrous consequences for the youngest turtle.
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT), Donatello/Raphael (TMNT), Leonardo/Michelangelo (TMNT)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 50





	Empathic Pain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BrightLotusMoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightLotusMoon/gifts).



For as long as Mikey had known, he had been different. He wasn’t just talking about the fact that he was a mutated turtle, or that he knew ninjutsu or that he lived in the sewers below New York City. No, this marked him different from his brothers. Don had once referred to him being an empath, or having the ability to sense other people’s emotions or mental state. He didn’t need to be in the same room to see his brothers body language to know how they were feeling. Touch made the emotions he felt from someone stronger.

He found comfort in knowing what his brothers were feeling. It allowed him to be able to react as necessary, push when they needed it or back off when the situations called for it. Perhaps it was because he spent his life with his brothers he was use to their emotions, it was familiar, calming even. The first time he had really gone to the surface with his brothers and spent a longer period around humans had grated on him in ways he hadn’t expected. It had been exciting, new, scary, and very, very loud both in the physical sense and in the emotions that they projected.

Mikey wasn’t sure if he was just use to his brothers so their emotions weren’t as distracting, but he found himself constantly distracted by the emotions from the humans. The closer they were to him, the louder they were. The first time April had touched him, he had nearly passed out, her emotions quickly overwhelming him. He had gotten it a bit more under control now, happier emotions were easier for him to process and filter out, it was more negative emotions that he had a harder time dealing with.

Night was the best time to be on the surface for him. Even though New York was known as the City that Never Sleeps, most of the humans were asleep and when they slept, their emotions weren’t as loud. It gave him a break and allowed him to be able to enjoy his time topside.

Brought of his musing as he dodged another blow from a Purple Dragon. He and his brothers had been ambushed while on patrol and there were more of them than usual. Gritting his teeth he spun his nunchuks faster, taking out one that dared to get to close. He normally relied on his speed and agility to keep him out of his enemies reach. He hated being around them, the negative emotions, the hatred and disgust they felt towards him and his brothers sometimes left him breathless. The few times that someone experience some minor negative emotions like fear, had been physically painful when there had been physical contact.

So far he had been lucky that none of them have landed a physical blow during a fight, but tonight, his luck was about to run out. He was tired and his reactions must have been slower than normal. He had been up most of the previous night, for once not goofing off or playing video games or reading comics, but because he had been worried about Don who was burning himself out trying to upgrade their security system. He desperately wanted to help, take some of the burden off his purple masked brother, but he didn’t know how. He wasn’t good with technology and Don usually found him more of a hindrance than help. His senses dulled, he didn’t see the Purple Dragon sneak behind him and whack him in the back of the head with a staff, or see the other who came in to take him out at the knees causing him to crash to the ground.

Physical pain from fighting he could deal with, blows from weapons, or falling hard. He’d been training all his life and could deal and even brush most of that off and keep going. It was the physical pain from negative emotions caused by his empathy he didn’t know how to handle. When a Purple Dragon grabbed him and roughly flipped him over so he was laying on his shell, he couldn’t stop the whimper that broke free. White hot pain seared through him, threatening to quickly overwhelm him. Disgust, anger and hatred bombarded him. When another Dragon joined the first Mikey knew he was in trouble. He couldn’t stop them from taking his wrists and dragging them above his head, pinning him down or the third that grabbed his ankles and pinned him from there. The constant contact was absolutely hell. His wrists and ankles seared in pain as if in contact with something hot enough to burn. Part of him wanted to look and see if his skin was actually blistering. He tried to struggle, tried to get free, tried to recall the training that had been drilled into him his entire life, but the pain left him gasping for breath, unable to move. When another Purple Dragon started raining punches upon any available piece of skin he could reach, Mikey knew he was done for. A scream tore from his throat and his back arched involuntarily, body thrashing in an instinctual attempt to get away from the pain.

Never in his life had he experienced this level of pain before. Every inch of his skin felt on fire. His brain felt like mush, no longer able to process any emotions or any level of thought. He wasn’t aware of anything except the searing, excruciating pain that filled ever pore. So overwhelmed, he didn’t notice when the sources of his pain were ripped away from him, one by one. He didn’t notice as Donnie gathered him in his arms, murmuring reassurances to him. Moving was painful and he whimpered as Don moved.

He was so incredibly over stimulated that things that normally felt good, his brothers emotions, being held by them, left him feeling raw and aching. Nothing felt good, everything felt like white hot fire. His mind and body no longer able to take anything more, he lost consciousness, going limp in his mates arms.

Hearing his youngest mate scream in pain like that was something that was going to haunt Leonardo for a long time to come. Looking back on that moment later, he would wonder if he, Raph and Don shared a brain in that singular second. They moved as if one; Raph and Don racing to their orange clad mate and Leo finishing off the remainder of the Purple Dragons with a ferocity he had never felt before, taking a defensive position to protect his family in case their enemy dared to try and approach. Raph quickly disposed of the Purple Dragon scum who had dared to hurt his mate, allowing Don to quickly assess him for any critical injuries before scooping him in his arms and making a hasty retreat. Raph took the wheel, with Don and Leo piling in the back with Mikey still in the purple clad terrapins arms.

“Here, you take him,” Don murmured, feeling the need to keep his voice down. Accepting his youngest mate, Leo couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows at the genius. “He needs calm emotions and we all know you have the best control out of any of us.” He cradled Mikey close, quickly trying to centre himself. He wanted to rage, lash out, the anger that someone had _dared_ hurt his mate churning inside him. He pushed it down, knowing he would have to experience and meditate through those emotions later. Right now, he needed to be calm, as the last thing he wanted was to cause any more pain.

“Will he be okay?” he asked, once he felt he had gotten his emotions under control.

“He will....eventually,” Don said, frowning. “But something needs to change. We were lucky that this was a relatively minor attack, but what if he had been worse?” The implication of what if their enemies got a hold of them and tortured or experimented on them hanging thick in the air. “We can’t bar him from patrol with us forever, but the status quo can’t remain the same either.” They all knew that Mikey hated to be excluded and not allowing him to come on patrol would not only put a rift between them, but could potentially do more harm to his mental health than anything. Besides, it wasn’t as if they really wanted to leave him behind.

“Any ideas?”

“Some sort of mental shield like you see in the movies?” Don shrugged. He really had no idea how to help their baby brother. “I’ve been looking into Mikey’s abilities on and off for years. Since it appeared that it was under control and he only ever mentioned that the humans were loud, I didn’t have any cause for concern...” Don shuddered visibly upset. “I never pursued it further. Clearly a massive error on my part.” Glancing at his only younger brother, the purple glad genius couldn’t help the sinking feeling that he had utterly failed in his one job to protect him. He could only hope that Mikey would forgive him one day.

“Don’t go there,” Raph rumbled from the drivers seat, having stayed uncharacteristically quiet up until this point. He desperately wanted to rage, to take out the anger he felt on their enemies but he knew right now his priority was getting his family back to the safety of their lair so Don could tend to their youngest mate. So he swallowed his anger, feeling it bubbling just below the surface. He knew it would break at some point, he had never been good at controlling his emotions, not like Fearless, but he was trying. He was definitely going to have a very intense workout later or spar with Leo to get it out of his system since there weren’t any Purple Dragons around for him to punch. “If you failed him, than so did we. We all knew how sensitive he is to our emotions, especially when he’s touchin’ us. It didn’t occur to any of us that this may cause a bigger problem since the humans were loud, so if you failed so did we. We all fucked up.” He glanced in the rear view mirror, smirking as he saw Leo frowning when he cussed. The more he got him worked up, the better their sparring match in and out of the bedroom would be later. It seemed to him they could both let off a little steam later, do them both good. Once they were certain that Mikey was going to be okay, that was.

“Don...” Leo looked down at the unconscious turtle in his arms. He wasn’t if what he was doing was helping at all, Mikey still looked to be in pain.

“Just keep holding him. His systems are probably overloaded right now. Besides, you know he loves cuddling you the most.” Don shot his older brother a half grin. It was true. Even as children, Mikey had always gone to Leo for cuddles, proclaiming that their eldest brother gave the best cuddles ever. They had all long suspected it was because Leo’s emotions were the most even and tranquil out of all of them. The youngest had once described Raph’s emotions as being like Raph himself, strong and intense. While Don on the other hand he had described as almost an electric buzzing, similar to the noise his electronics and computers in his lab made. His emotions ran quick, much like the thoughts in his head.

The leader of their little family nodded, hugging his youngest mate closer to his body. The feeling of being useless was nearly overwhelming. This wasn’t a physical enemy he could vanquish, he could do nothing to help the thunderous storm taking place inside Mikey, no matter how much he wished to. All he could do was hope that his emotions would break through and provide some peace for his little brother.

Stirring slightly, Mikey felt a soft, calm presence enveloping him. It felt oh so familiar but for the life of him, he couldn’t place it. Just beyond he felt two more presence that were familiar. It was at the tip of his tongue...why did they feel so familiar?

_Mates._

He felt calm and safe, a far cry from the earlier pain he had been in. What had caused that pain again? Right. Purple Dragons. Ambush on patrol. Held him down. So much pain. He backed away from the memory, focusing instead on the comfort he was surrounded by. His mates must have rescued him. The thought brought him some comfort. At least he didn’t have to worry about more pain. Feeling the air shift around, he felt himself moving or being moved rather. Where were they bringing him? He could hear his mates voices, concentrating he tried to figure out what they were saying.

“Should I bring him to your Lab, Don?”

“No, he should be fine with some sleep, just put him to bed. If you or Raph could stay with him, that would be ideal. Mikey felt himself moving again before being placed on something soft. He could feel Leo’s worry. He really should wake up, he hated it when his eldest brother worried about him. Fighting his way towards the warmth that he could feel, he opened his eyes slowly.

“Did you catch the licence plate of that truck?” he tried to joke weakly, his mouth feeling dry. He could really use some water right now.

“Hey, how are you doing?” Leo murmured softly, pressing his forehead to his youngest mate.

“Been better,” he replied honestly, knowing better than to try and hide anything from Leo. It never worked out well for him in the end. He was achy, and sore and still felt completely out of whack. He bit his lip as his memory of the night fully returned. Oh boy. He had messed up royally. Tears gathered at the corner of his eyes. How much of a burden did he need to be for his family? Twice now they’ve had to rescue him. On top of being useless, he knew he was needy. He hated being alone and was forever pestering one of his mates to hang out with him. Did they even still want him? He couldn’t stop the tears from spilling over and trailing down his face. Perhaps it was better for everyone if he just left.

“Mikey, Mikey, hey, what’s wrong?” Leo ran his hands over his youngest mate, trying to find any injuries he had missed that would cause the youngest to cry like this.

“I- I really messed up, I’m sorry.” He buried his head in Leo’s plastron, not wanting to see the anger he was sure to be in his mate’s eyes.

The blue clad turtle blinked in confusion, momentarily stunned by the words he just heard coming from his youngest brothers mouth. “Michelangelo, sweetling, listen to me.” He waited patiently for Mikey to lift his head and look at him. “If anyone is owed an apology, it’s you. We’ve known about your ability for years now and we’ve never done anything to help you control it. We just assumed it was fully under control because you never said otherwise. You got hurt today because we failed you.”

Had they ever failed their youngest mate. Cupping the orange one’s jaw, he titled his mates head so he could slid his lips against the other in a chaste kiss. He smiled as Mikey sighed in pleasure, some of the tension in his body melting away.

“I want to show you how sorry I am, may I?” When Mikey nodded, Leo gently pushed him back into the plush mattress of his bed, trailing kisses down his plastron. His hands stroked the sensitive area of where their shell met flesh, knowing how much Mikey enjoyed the sensation. Purposefully, he moved past the swollen slit, glad he had the foresight to remove Mikey’s clothing before putting him to bed, instead turning his attention to his quivering thighs. He nipped each one in turn, soothing it with his tongue. When Mikey shifted his hips impatiently, he pinched his tail, loving the moan he got as a reward.

“Good things come to those who wait, Michelangelo,” he teased, pinching the others tail once more. His mate distracted by the attention on his tail, the leader leaned down, tongue licking the full length of his slit. He continued to lavish attention on the sensitive flesh, alternating licks, sucks and nips. His hands having moved to the younger’ hips, keeping him pinned in place, forcing him to accept the pleasure he was simultaneously seeking and trying to get away from, his senses still very much overstimulated from earlier.

“Drop down for me,” he demanded, the answering whine the only warning he got before his mates cock revealed itself to his gaze. “You’re so good for me,” he praised before taking Mikey into his mouth, quickly working his way down to the hilt. His goal of trying to keep the younger off balance, not knowing what to expect, so he had no choice but to focus on the feelings he was experiencing now, seemed to be working. Humming, he reached down to play with Mikey’s tail as he started to bob up and down slowly, intent on working his mate into a frenzy. It didn’t take long for Michelangelo to become a sobbing, pleading mess, but he kept his pace, knowing that the longer he drew it out, the more intense the orgasm would be. He knew exactly how to play his younger brothers pleasure like a fiddle. His thumb circling the puckered hole, his two fingers squeezing his mates tail gently, Leo knew it wouldn’t be much longer. Taking him once more down to the hilt, he relaxed his throat, he swallowed, knowing the sensation would send Mikey tumbling over the edge.

Making sure to lick him clean from root to tip, Leo moved to lay down beside Mikey, gathering his younger mate in his arms.

“How are you feeling now?” he asked, nuzzling into Mikey’s throat.

“So good, gimme a minute dude and I can return the favour.”

“No, tonight was about you. I’m fine.” And he was. It was enough for him that his mate was home safe, his other two mates were somewhere else in the lair. He knew as much as Raph liked to push the rules and go out, he would stay in tonight, most likely comforting Donatello who never took one of his brothers being injured, especially if he thought it was something he could have prevented well. His family was together and they were safe and that was all that he needed. For now, they would sleep, the exhaustion written on Mikey’s face was as plain as day to him. He had a feeling the youngest of them would have a very busy morning with his two elder brothers wanting to make up the wrongs they’ve committed to him.

Saving those thoughts for the morning, he pulled the blankets up around them and settled into sleep, Mikey securely in his arms.


End file.
